Greater Appreciation for Life

It was the worst thing ever - my J Crew color swatches came in for Dark Pacific Blue (which is what the bridesmaid dress we really like comes in) and Dark Navy. I wanted to see if Dark Pacific Blue is close enough to navy. Dark Pacific looks purple compared to real navy. Dark Navy looks black. Only 2 styles of dresses even come in Classic Navy. After consulting dozens (yes dozens) of people on if Dark Pacific looked "navy enough", boys and girls, I skyped my friend who actually WENT to J Crew to consult her opinion. I even took the online color swatches and cropped them and lined them up:


About 20 minutes in to discussing if it looked navy enough, would clash with the guys, and match everything else...we just started laughing.

How ridiculous does this all sound? Who knew there were hundreds of shades of navy...and more importantly...who cares??

I feel like all the little details involved in wedding planning has been a good test of what's really important. And my friend even pointed out, you know your life is good when the biggest worry you have is whether Dark Pacific matches Classic Navy or not.

It also helps me remember that the point of getting married isn't about the shades of navy, what's for dinner, or who the DJ is...it's about Kyle and I starting our life together.

So I will leave you all with a piece of advice from my good ol' XC days at North:

"Don't sweat the petty things, and don't pet the sweaty things."

Wedding Inspiration

This blog is little narration - lots of pictures. I scoured Google images for some navy/green inspiration and was amazed at how many beautiful navy/green wedding pictures are out there. So enjoy my new inspiration and let me know your favorites! I'd love some input :)

Can't wait to put all this inspiration to fruition. Tomorrow is a full day of florist appointments, catering, and showing my wedding planner the venue and church!

Weekend Shenanigans

Instead of posting a Valentine's Day post of Kyle and I's celebration (mostly because we haven't fully celebrated), I decided to recap this past weekend as two important things happened: 1) I was reunited with several friends for bridesmaid dress shopping!!! and 2) I knocked 2 things off my senior year bucket list!

Bridesmaid Dress Shopping
I am very fortunate to have 6 great bridesmaids - 3 from high school, 3 from Butler, who I always have a GREAT time with. Unfortunately, one of my bridesmaids, Annie, couldn't make it, but it was nice to have the other 5 be able to meet, eat brunch, and shop all day :) We started off right by eating at Cafe Patachou...where 4 of the 5 of us had "The Omelet You Can't Refuse". Aptly named with ingredients like: bacon, potatoes, cheese, and sour cream...with cinnamon toast and fresh fruit. Plus - their coffee is to die for! They had cinnadoodle coffee that morning, so let's just say we started the day off right!

We then went to Castleton Square Mall - and stopped in at Alfred Angelo's, Macy's, and Von Maur. Alfred Angelo's was of course PACKED for a Saturday, and we only had limited luck there...but better than Macy's or Von Maur. Our attempt was to find dresses that were not "bridesmaid-y" but cocktail dresses that can be worn again and again...none of that 27 Dresses nonsense!

We then headed over to David's Bridal where of course we fell in love with 2 BEAUTIFUL dresses - however they only came in black...and we are celebrating a wedding here, not a funeral - I need NAVY!!

So we ventured to Nancy's Bridal (after a little detour due to an accident we made our way...) and again had no luck. So we decided to call it a day - and chalk it up for a loss (but a fun one!). We then followed it up with a trip to McDonald's for some much needed Diet Coke. A perfect end to a fun day with friends.

Bucket List - 2 Down!
That night we ended up going to the Butler Men's Basketball game against Detroit (and they won!). One item on the bucket list was attending a game - but not just that, we had to bring foam fingers, dress for the white out, and get VERY into the chants....

We also got to witness an incredible half court shot - definitely worth viewing the video it's hilarious. My favorite part is when he takes off his polo to reveal his Gordon Hayward jersey - just what he needed to make the shot. It starts around 1:06!!

The second thing on the bucket list is a Butler tradition (not trespassing I swear) - and it's a stop in all the fountains at Butler...due to the cold weather, it's even more fun because the fountains are empty. The best fountain on campus is "star fountain" (it's in the shape of a star) and on the way back from the game we thought it'd be fun to jump in and you know...do the whole fountain thing?? Whatever, it seemed like a great idea at the time!

Now only about 50 other things to do in the next 9 WEEKS (ya talk about a scary thought...only 9 more weeks of college...)!!

***On a side note - part of the bucket list includes Kyle and I going on a date A-Z...we started yesterday and have been to Apple, Barnes & Noble, and Puccinis. Today we are adding Chocolate Cafe, Movie (to be named...), Scotty's Brewhouse*** One post will have the final 26 locations :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Pictures! Pictures! Pictures!!

So today's will be like a blog a few days back - a photo update of the wedding planning. We received our engagement photo CD today and are THRILLED with how they turned out! Here are some NEW ones that you haven't seen yet!

Here's a link to most of the other pictures

I also attempted to take the pictures Claire took at the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) and make a little collage to show our wedding date. Just an FYI - I am NOT the best at Photoshop or fixing pictures...definitely not my strong point. So I'm pretty excited about how this turned out!

This weekend, I am going bridesmaid dress shopping with all SIX of my bridesmaids! I can't wait :) We are hoping for navy cocktail dresses - any suggestions as to where we can find some good ones would be appreciated!

We also have decided on our cake! It's going to be amaretto and red velvet layers (so 2 amaretto layers, 2 red velvet). YUM! It's 4 tiers, square and was inspired by a cake made by the wonderfully artistic and talented Confetti Cakes. 

Here's what it'd look like in pink - but mine of course won't be pink (or EXACTLY like that...just inspired by this cake)! 

I've also been working with one of my longtime friends, Michelle, on designing my paper trousseau (all the wedding invites, programs, menus, thank yous, etc). It's SOO nice to have friends who are talented and can collaborate with me and understand my taste, budget, and overall look. Plus, it's always nice to know that I can definitely count on my friends to follow through on a tough deadline or just in general. 

Lots of wedding updates that I still haven't mentioned but will save for future blogging. Plus, I have to leave SOMETHING as a mystery. Can't believe we're about 4 months away from the big day!

Eat More, Exercise Less - Wait What?

You read that right - Eat more, exercise less. That's the advice my "Learning Golf Through Games" instructor advised our class. He's a certified dietician with a Ph.D. and everything. So of course, I thought I should blog about this...wouldn't that be the ideal world when all I had to do was just eat, eat, eat and NEVER exercise???

Well - turns out he meant it a little different, but still the overall message goes against ordinary thinking. The average American does not eat enough calories in a day which makes your body go into starvation mode and it stores everything it can as fat. So if you eat 1200 calories to go on a crash diet, you're actually just going to gain weight! The problem is people don't understand their BMR in relation to their workout regimen and daily activity. BMR stands for basal metabolic rate and is calculated for men is 1.0 kcal X 24 hours X wt in kg (1 kg = 2.2 lbs) and for women it's .9 kcal X 24 hours X wt in kg. 

Your BMR is how many calories you need to stay alive if you don't do ANYTHING (like you're awake but just laying down for 24 hours straight never moving). So let's say your BMR is 1227 (for a woman who weighs 125 lbs) then to just stay ALIVE you must eat 1227 calories (it's plus/minus 100). But still...that means you didn't walk, think, exercise, lift anything, shower, get dressed, anything....aka you need to eat more calories - even more than 2,000 calories (I'll pause for the gasp). 

The problem is people don't eat the RIGHT calories. Which goes back to grade school and the Food Guide Pyramid. You must eat fruits/vegetables, meats, calcium, etc. not junk. And you HAVE to eat breakfast to jump start your metabolism. Try eating small meals throughout the day to get more calories but in a healthy way!

And don't think that you should just exercise like a fiend. That goes to the second half - people need to exercise less. Now, that's slightly an exaggeration my professor said. The problem is people only focus on working out to get their activity in. So instead of being active ALL DAY and walking instead of driving, taking the stairs not the elevator, etc we only focus on a 45 minute workout to think because we did that we'll lose weight. 

Ultimately losing weight - and just staying healthy for that matter - is a LIFESTYLE. You must make the right choices all day, every day. I hope this blog changes your mindset on healthy lifestyles - don't count your calories, don't just focus on one intense work out a day. Instead, make sure you eat small meals frequently of HEALTHY food (you know, strawberries, peppers, eggs, bananas, whole grains) and being active whenever you can. 

Just some food for thought :) I'd love to hear any comments!!

Coke? Pepsi? I prefer Diet Coke

Today's blog is slightly off topic, but hey, it was an interesting day today. My day, excuse me, my Saturday, consisted of spending 6 hours (noon to 6) in the Science Library at Butler. Now see, I'm not sure why they call it the science library. It's in the Business building...but I mean, I guess there are lots of science books there. Anyway, the main focus of today was working on my lit review for my honors thesis.

Background:
I started the Honors Program at Butler my freshman year. That consisted of taking a variety of classes: everything from one that took place at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, one called "Hands on Spirituality" in which I did everything from yoga, smoke a peace pipe, and simulated dying...twice, a class that required reading the entire "Les Miserables"...unabridged version...and now, writing my honors thesis. It's the only way to graduate Butler summa or magna cum laude...so I have my goal set high for finishing college.

Anyway - my thesis is about consumer behavior. Why do we buy the items we buy? Especially those items that take you 10 seconds to decide on: deodorant, tissues, laundry detergent. Items that seem VERY irrelevant and not worth much conscious effort.

So today, I spent 6 hours researching about generations and gender buying behaviors, consumer behavior in general, and a lot of VERY interesting (maybe I'm just nerdy...) studies have been done. One that is SOO interesting, I wanted to blog about it.

A study was done by Samuel M. McClure, Jian Li, Damon Tomlin, Kim S. Cypert, Latane M. Montague and P. Read Montague called "Neural Correlates of Behavioral Preference for Culturally Familiar Drinks" or in layman's terms...a neuromarketing study between Coke and Pepsi on which tastes better.

You remember the Pepsi Challenge right? Blind taste test in malls, at games, wherever, and surprisingly enough, Pepsi wins almost every time. But Coke still dominates the soda industry. How can that be?? Well, a group of people were interested and they took 67 participants, hooked them up to a machine, and did another blind taste test. They found that only one part of the brain is used, the part that is stimulated by appealing tastes, and that in a taste test, Pepsi wins.

Then, the researchers told the participants in advance what they would be drinking. So instead of tasting blind, they KNEW whether it was Coke or Pepsi. And guess what? Most participants chose Coke! Even though, blindly, they like Pepsi better...confused?? So were they.

They found that when looking at the brain, when participants know what they are tasting TWO parts of the brain are affected. The one stimulated by appealing tastes and the one associated with memories. Basically meaning, people have such positive associations with Coke, whether it's the logo, commercials, history, childhood memories, whatever, that even though they like the taste of Pepsi better, emotions win and we tell ourselves we like Coke better.

Now if that isn't interesting, and frustrating for Pepsi, I don't know what is. So think about it. Are you a Pepsi fanatic? Coke fanatic? Neither? Maybe you should rethink WHY you like it...you may surprise yourself!

Engagement Photo Shoot!!!

So today was definitely a great day (other than the fact that I'm exhausted and don't feel too hot right now...). First, it's Friday! Yay for the weekend! Second, Kyle and I got to take our engagement photos with Claire Petersen.

Kyle and I really wanted it to be natural - not too dressed up, but casual and fun. So we stuck to jeans, and even took some pictures in our Butler gear inside Hinkle (definitely Kyle's favorite part).

This blog will be quick - just want to show you a few of the 500+ photos that were taken. More will be added to our wedding website once we get the final edited pictures.